Iquitos: Capital of the Peruvian Amazon

Tourist Attractions of Iquitos

Iquitos is a city in the Peruvian rainforest, is the capital of Loreto Region and the province of Maynas, Iquitos is located on the banks of the Amazon River, is now a major port in the Amazon Rainforest Basin , this city can be reached by boat or plane.

Within the city of Iquitos people mobilize bus, motorcycle or car. It has a warm and humid climate, the rainy season is from November.

Amazon river tours

The Amazon River ( Spanish: Río Amazonas) of South America is the largest river in the world by volume, with a total river flow greater than the next top ten largest rivers flowing into the ocean combined. The Amazon River, which has the largest drainage basin in the world, accounts for approximately one fifth of the world’s total river flow. Because of its vast dimensions, it is sometimes called The River Sea. At no point is the Amazon crossed by bridges. This is only partly because of its huge dimensions—in fact, for most of its length the Amazon river is not so wide that a modern bridge could not span it—but more because, for most of its length, the river flows through tropical rainforest, where there are few roads and even fewer cities.

While the Amazon river is clearly the largest river in the world by most measures, the current consensus within the geographic community holds that the Amazon river is the second longest river, just slightly shorter than the Nile. However, some scientists, particularly from Brazil, dispute this.

The Amazon basin, the largest drainage basin in the world, covers some 40 percent of South America, an area of approximately 6,915,000 square kilometres (2,670,000 sq mi). It gathers its waters from 5 degrees north latitude to 20 degrees south latitude. Its most remote sources are found on the inter-Andean plateau, just a short distance from the Pacific Ocean.

More than one third of all species in the world live in the Amazon Rainforest, a giant tropical forest and river basin with an area that stretches more than 5.4 million square kilometres (2,100,000 sq mi) and is among the richest tropical forests in the world. The Amazon River has over 3,000 recognized species of fish and that number is still growing. Some estimates go as high as 5,000.

Along with the Orinoco, the river is one of the main habitats of the Boto, also known as the Amazon River Dolphin. The largest species of river dolphin, it can grow to lengths of up to 2.6 metres (9 ft). The boto is the subject of a very famous legend in Brazil, about a dolphin that turns into a human.

Also present in large numbers are the notorious piranha, carnivorous fish which congregate in large schools, and may attack livestock and even humans. However, only a few species attack humans, and many are solely fish-eaters, and do not school.

The bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) has been reported 4,000 km (2,220 miles) up the Amazon River at Iquitos in Peru. The arapaima, or pirarucu (Arapaima gigas) is a South American tropical freshwater fish. It is one of the largest freshwater fish in the world, reportedly with a maximum length in excess of 3 m (9.8 ft) and weight up to 200 kg (440 lb). Another Amazonian freshwater fish is the arowana (Osteoglossum bicirrhosum) which is also a predator and very similar to the arapaima, but reaches a length of maximum 120 centimetres.

The Anaconda snake is found in shallow waters in the Amazon rainforest basin.One of the world’s largest species of snake, the Anaconda spends pacaya-samiriamost of its time in the water, with just its nostrils above the surface.

The river supports thousands of species of fish, as well as crabs, algae, and turtles.

Ayahuasca Ceremony

Ayahuasca (pronounced [aja waska] in the Quechua language) is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis spp. vine, usually mixed with the leaves of the Psychotria bush. It was first described in the early 1950’s by the late Harvard ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes who found it employed for divinatory and healing purposes by Amerindians of Amazonian Colombia.

“Ayahuasca tourist” refers to a tourist wanting a taste of an exotic ritual or who partakes in modified services geared specifically towards non-indigenous persons. Some seek to clear emotional blocks and gain a sense of peace. Other participants include explorers of consciousness, writers, medical doctors, journalists, anthropologists and ethnobotanists. Ayahuasca is popularly known as ‘Grandmother’. Ayahuasca tourism is greatest in Peru, and attracts visitors from all over the world, especially from Europe, USA and Australia, but also from other South American countries like Argentina, Colombia and Mexico.

Iron House

La Casa de Fierro (English: the Iron House, French: La Maison de Fer), located in the city of Iquitos in the jungle of Peru, in front of the major square between Prospero and Putumayo streets, is a large iron residence built during the rubber boom at the end of the XIX century. It is one of the finest as well as best-preserved samples of civil architecture in Peru.

The walls, ceiling, and balcony are plastered in rectangular sheets of iron. It is said to be the first prefabricated house in the Americas. It was designed by the French architect Gustave Eiffel and built in the Belgian workshops of Les Forjes D´Aisseau. Rubber baron Anselmo del Aguila bought it at the International Exposition of Paris in 1889. Once dismantled, it was brought in pieces to Iquitos (the metal sheets were carried by hundreds of men through the amazon jungle), and assembled there in 1890.
Since 1985, it is being administered by the Club Social de Iquitos; which has contributed in its restoration. Its second floor now has a restaurant.